Mining and loading system



ch 30, 193?. L. F. CRAWFORD ET AL 2,075,505

MINING AND LOADING SYSTEM Original Filed May 9, 1955 Patented Mar. 30, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Loyal F. Crawford and Frank Cartlidge, Chicago,

Ill., assignors to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application May 9, 1935, Serial No. 20,553 Renewed June 26, 1936 7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in mining and loading systems and more particularly to a new and improved method of mining and loading coal, particularly adapted for use in 6 thin seams of coal.

In mining thin seams of coal mechanically, it has frequently been the practice to place a room conveyer along one rib and feed material into this room conveyer by means of a face conveyer extending along a face, which face conveyer is loaded by hand and advanced after each cut is loaded out at a considerable expenditure of time and effort.

The mining system of our invention has as its principal objects to reduce this time and eifort and eliminate the labor of shoveling coal onto the face conveyer and provide a system for loading an entire room mechanically.

Our invention may be more clearly understood with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a mine room illustrating one stage of the method of mining embodying our invention;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the same room shown in Figure 1, illustrating another stage of the method of mining embodying our invention;

Figure 3 is a detail view of a portion of the loading apparatus; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Referring now to the details of the mining system shown in the drawing, a shaker conveyer,

generally indicated by reference character I0, is

shown as being positioned along one rib of the mine room. Said shaker conveyer is of an ordinary construction and includes suitable reciprocable drive mechanism indicated by reference character ll. Said drive mechanism is preferably disposed adjacent the entry and is connected to a pan line l2 extending along one rib of the room for reciprocably moving said pan line for moving material therealong for discharge into another conveyer or mine car in the entry.

As herein shown, suitable loading and feeding mechanism is attached to the forward end of said pan It having a loading pan l5 secured to and shaker conveyer which includes an extensible of gripping blocks are adapted to engage plates extending laterally from opposite sides of said extensible pan upon the forward stroke of the conveyer for advancing said pan forwardly into the coal in a manner well known to those skilled in the art.

Said loading pan is of the saw-bill type similar to that disclosed in a prior application of. Timothy F. McCarthy, Serial No. 667,583, filed April 24, 1933 which issued as Patent No. 2,030,145 on February 11, 1936. Said pan is shown in detail in Figures 3 and 4 and consists of a relatively fiat plate having a retaining wall l8 on the retreating side thereof and is connected to the forward end of said extensible trough and communicates therewith in such a manner that material may move rearwardly therealong, upon reciprocable movement of the shaker conveyer, onto the pan l5 and along the pan line I2 to the discharge end thereof.

The shaker conveyer being in position along one rib of the working place and the preceding out being entirely cleaned up, the working face is undercut in the usual manner by a mining machine indicated by reference character l9, which is herein preferably shown as being of the room and pillar type. Said mining machine is of the usual construction and is provided with'a pair of power-driven winding drums 20 and 2|.

Upon completion of the undercut the mining machine is withdrawn from the kerf and anchored in the room in a position preferably disposed adjacent the central portion of the room at a substantial distance from the coal face. The loading pan I5 is then inserted in the kerf along the left hand rib while a snubbing pan 22 is inserted in the kerf along the right hand rib. Said snubbing pan may be of any suitable construction and as herein shown includes a relatively fiat plate having bits or other material engaging projections extending upwardly from the upper surface thereof. A jack 23 is positioned at the right hand rib a distance from the face suificient to permit removal of said snubbing pan from the kerf and another jack 24 is positioned at the left hand rib adjacent the coal face. A feeding rope 25 is trained from the winding drum 2| around a guide sheave 26 on the right hand forward end of the mining machine to and around a suitable sheave on the jack 23 to the snubbing pan 22, to which it is attached. An-

other feeding rope 21 is trained from the left hand winding drum 20 around a suitable sheave 28 on the-left hand forward end of the machine to and around a suitable sheave on the Jack 24.

Said feeding rope is attached at its end to a scraper or scoop 29 of the open end type.

At this point the coal is broken down by powder or any other suitable breaking means well known to those skilled in the art. The shaker conveyer I0 is then put in operation and the loaded snubbing pan is removed from the face by means of the feed rope 25 attached thereto upon the application of power to the winding drum 2|. The feed rope 25 is then disconnected from said snubbing pan and the jack 23 is moved adjacent the coal face. Said feed rope is then connected to the rearward end of the scoop 29. Said scoop is then positioned adjacent the right hand rib and reciprocably moved across the face by means of the winding drums 20 and 2| for moving the loose coal onto the loading pan [5 Said scraper is advanced into the coal until the entire face is cleaned up by periodically advancing the jacks 23 and 24.

It may thus be seen that the mining machine which serves to undercut the coal may be used for moving the scoop across the coal face and doing a major portion of the work of the loading operation and that by a series of simple steps an entire room may be loaded mechanically in a simple and eflicient manner.

While we have herein shown and described one form in which the method of our invention may be employed, we wish it to be understood thatwe do not desire to be limited to the precise details or form of construction shown herein, excepting as they may be limited in the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a coal mining and loading system, the method of mining and loading coal which consists in placing a shaker conveyer along one rib, providing a loading pan on the forward end of said shaker conveyer which may be inserted in a kerf cut in the coal face, undercutting the coal from one rib to another with a mining machine of the room and pillar type having two power driven winding drums, withdrawing said machine and anchoring it in a fixed position in the mine room, inserting said loading pan in the kerf adjacent one rib and inserting a snubbing pan inthe kerf adjacent the opposite rib, breaking down the undercut coal and starting operation of said shaker conveyer, removing said snubbing pan from the coal face by means of a feed rope trained from one of said mining machine winding drums, attaching the feed ropes from each of said winding drums to opposite ends of an open end scoop and reciprocably moving said scoop across the coal face for moving material onto said loading pan.

2. In a coal mining and loading system, the method of mining and loading coal which consists in placing a shaker conveyer along one rib, providing a loading pan on the forward end of said shaker conveyer which may be inserted in a kerf cut in the coal face, undercutting the coal from one rib to another with a mining machine of the room and pillar type having two power driven-winding drums, withdrawing said machine and anchoring it in a fixed central position in the mine room, inserting said loading pan in the kerf adjacent one rib and inserting a snubbing pan in the kerf adjacent the opposite rib, breaking down the undercut coal and starting operation of said shaker conveyer, removing said snubbing pan from the coal face by means of a feed rope trained from one of said mining machine winding drums, attaching the feed ropes from each of said winding drums to opposite ends of an open end scoop and reciprocably moving said scoop across the coal face for moving material onto said loading pan.

3. In a coal mining and loading system, the method of mining and loading coal which consists in placing a shaker conveyer along one rib of a mine room, providing a loading pan on the forward end of said shaker conveyer which may be inserted in a kerf cut in the coal face, providing an undercutting mining machine of the room and pillar type having two power driven winding drums, undercutting the face of the coal with this mining machine and anchoring said mining machine in a stationary position upon completion of the undercutting operation, inserting said loading pan in the kerf adjacent one rib and inserting a snubbing pan in the kerf adjacent the opposite rib, setting a jack adjacent one rib in alignment with said snubbing pan but a distance from the face sufficient to permit removal of said snubbing pan, training a feeding member from one winding drum around this jack to said snubbing pan, breaking down the undercut coal and starting operation of said shaker conveyer, removing said snubbing pan from the coal face, resetting said first-mentioned jack adjacent the coal face, setting another jack adjacent the opposite rib, training another feeding member from said other winding drum around said other jack to a scraper adapted to be reciprocably moved across the coal face, and attaching the feeding member formerly attached to said snubbing pan to the rearward end of said scoop, and then reciprocably moving said scoop across the coal face for moving material onto said shaker conveyer.

4. In a coal mining and loading system, the method of mining and loading coal which consists in placing a shaker conveyer along one rib of a mine room, providing a loading pan on the forward end of said shaker conveyer which may be inserted in a kerf cut in the coal face, providing an undercutting machine of the room and pillar type having two power driven winding drums, undercutting the face of the coal with this mining machine, withdrawing said undercutting machine from the coal face and anchoring it in a central position with respect to the working place, inserting said loading pan in the kerf adjacent one rib and inserting a snubbing pan in the kerf adjacent the opposite rib, setting a jack adjacent one rib in alignment with said snubbing pan, but a distance from the face suiflcient to permit removal of said snubbing pan, training a feeding member from one winding drum around said jack to said snubbing pan, breaking down the undercut coal and starting operation of said shaker conveyer, removing said snubbing pan from the coal face, resetting said first-mentioned jack adjacent the coal face, setting another jack adjacent the opposite rib, training another feeding member from said other winding drum around said other jack to a scraper adapted to be reciprocably moved across the coal face, training the feeding member formerly attached to said snubbing pan around the first-mentioned jack and attaching said feeding member to the rearward end of said scoop and then reciprocably moving said scoop across the coal face for moving material onto said shaker conveyer.

5. In a coal mining and loading system, the method of loading coal which consists in placing a shaker conveyer having loading means on the forward end thereof along one rib, undercutting the coal from one rib to another with a machine having a pair of power driven winding drums, withdrawing the machine from the coal face and anchoring it in a central position with respect to the room, inserting a snubbing pan in the kerf adjacent one rib and inserting said loading means in said kerf adjacent said opposite rib, positioning a jack adjacent each rib, training a rope from one winding drum of said machine to said snubbing pan and training the other rope around said other jack to a scraper, breaking down the coal on said snubbing pan and loading means, starting operation of said shaker conveyer, removing said snubbing pan from the coal by means of said feed rope attached thereto, de-

taching said feed rope from said snubbing pan and attaching it to the rearward end of said scoop and reciprocably moving said scoop across the coal face and moving material onto said loading means.

6. In a coal mining and loading system, the method of mining and loading coal which consists in placing a shaker conveyer along one rib of a coal face, providing a loading pan on the I orward end of said shaker conveyer which may be inserted in a kerf cut in the coal face, providing a mining machine having flexible feeding means, undercutting the coal from one rib to another with said mining machine, withdrawing said mining machine and anchoring it in a fixed position in the Working place, inserting said loading pan in the kerf adjacent one rib and inserting a snubbing pan in the kerf adjacent the opposite rib, breaking down the undercut coal and starting operation of said shaker conveyer, removing said snubbing pan from the coal face with coal thereon by said flexible feeding means, attaching said flexible feeding means to said scoop and moving said scoop across the coal face for loading the mined coal onto said loading pan.

7. In a coal mining and loading system, the method of loading coal which consists in placing a shaker conveyer having loading means on the forward end thereof along one rib of a working place, providing a mining machine having flexible feeding means, undercutting the coal face from one rib to another with said mining machine, withdrawing said mining machine from the coal face and anchoring it in a fixed position in the working place, inserting a snubbing pan in the kerf adjacent one rib and inserting said loading means in said kerf adjacent said opposite rib, positioning a jack adjacent each rib, training said flexible feeding means around said jack to said snubbing pan and breaking down the coal on said snubbing pan and loading means, starting operation of the shaker conveyer, removing said snubbing pan loaded with coal by said flexible feeding means, detaching said flexible feeding means from said snubbing pan and attaching said flexible feeding means to said scoop and moving said scoop across the coal face for moving coal onto said loading means.

LOYAL F. CRAWFORD. FRANK CARTLIDGE. 

